Brian Cashman failed to protect his assets

For the past two days, it has been widely reported that Alex Rodriguez felt discomfort in his infamous hip as early as the end of last season. As per Kat O'Brien on March 3:

A source close to Rodriguez said tightness and stiffness have bothered him in his right hip since the end of last season. However, it was never a major concern. Rodriguez was not believed to have been receiving medical treatment for the issue, but merely working with strength and conditioning coach Dana Cavalea to try to increase flexibility in his hip.
“He has had a hip issue for quite a while,” the source said. “It was hindering his bat speed. I know in the offseason, he was working on it to get looser.”

If strength and conditioning coach Dana Cavelea knew about the tightness, Rodriguez was clearly open with the Yankees about the injury.

Even more damning evidence comes from this post on the NY Times Bats Blog:

Kevin Long, the Yankees’ hitting coach, said he knew Rodriguez had a hip problem last June or July. Long noticed subtle changes in Rodriguez’s hitting, notably in his right foot, the back one in his stance.

The $275 million dollar question is why the hip was not examined towards the end of the 2008 season. If today's prognosis had been revealed in September (or earlier), surgery would have been an option for a full recovery by the beginning of 2009. The Yankees were effectively eliminated from the playoffs by September 1 last year, so a playoff push is not an excuse.

Brian Cashman has been open in defining A-Rod as an asset that needs to be protected in response to the Yankees support amidst the steroid controversy. A couple of weeks Cashman said:

“We’ve invested in him as an asset. And because of that, this is an asset that is going through a crisis. So we’ll do everything we can to protect that asset and support that asset and try to salvage that asset.”

The $275 million dollar asset complained of hip discomfort since the end of the 2008 season, but he never had it examined until Spring Training 2009. Someone wasn't doing a very good job of protecting his assets.

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Yankee fans - Don't be surprised when AJ Burnett is hurt next year

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ESPN's Jerry Crasnick broke the news earlier today: A.J. Burnett (yes, unlike CC, he DOES like the periods between his initials) is your newest New York Yankee.

NYYSI has been and always will be against signing A.J Burnett to a long-term deal. Aside from the fact that he has questionable control, A.J Burnett is a MAJOR injury risk. Take a look at his stat sheet\. He has thrown over 200 IP 3 times in his career including last year. The previous two times, he came down with an injury the next year and was only able to start 4 games and 21 games, respectively.

A.J Burnett threw 221 innings last year - a career high by far. For us NOT to expect an injury would be setting ourselves up for disappointment. Brian Cashman typically is smarter than me, so I hope that is the case here as well.

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Kiss the Ring

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